historical walking tours

Over the past few years, Dr. David Shanahan, Historican of the NGHS, has developed a series of Historical Walking Tours for the Municipality of North Grenville. To access printable PDF versions of these tours, simply click on any of the buttons below.

Although now the main street of Kemptville, before 1840 it was just a cleared area south of the river where cows grazed around the corner of Prescott and Asa Streets. From that point, the trail to Prescott ran through heavy bush, through which the mail often had to be carried on foot, the trail being too difficult at times even for horses. By 1870 the street was occupied by an impressive range of wood framed buildingscontaining hotels, blacksmith shops, doctors’ offices and stores. On May 13, 1872, all of this was burned away in the worst fire in Kemptville’s history. The entire street, from Asa to Water street was destroyed, as every building on both sides of the street went up in flames. Prescott Street today dates from after that dreadful catastrophe. This tour covers the oldest part of the Prescott Street area, as far south as Asa Street.

After the fire of 1872 had destroyed Prescott Street from Water to Asa Streets, most of the rebuilt properties there were dedicated to business and commercial operations. Business owners and other leading members of Kemptville society, began to build residences south of the commercial centre, and many of them moved from the Clothier West area on to large lots and into newer homes. The churches and schools followed. This tour takes in some of those residences, and the commercial concerns that grew up around the Prescott Street district.